not success. forgot meds so drank a cup of hot chocolate in hopes the caffeine would wake me up. Mr. Z gave me a little Snickers bite as a way to torture the students--ha! 'Course, I didnt have to eat it. no despair, though. all in all, a good day._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

I thought I posted nov. of 2008, but a search didn't bring it up. Oh, it's only been 15 months of being off the wagon. It seems to be time, though to be back. I'm on day 12 of No S-ing. I'm back to working as a teacher after 3 weeks off and this first day back with students has brought up some of the old urges. Even though I finish lunch about an hour before I finish teaching my last class, I so often want to run across the street to the drugstore or market and load up on chocolate after school. The thought occcurred to me today, just like clockwork. However, I don't want to ruin my streak. Besides that I know I will feel better if I don't spoil my appetite. My dinner last night was so delicious, and I know it was partly because I was good and hungry. Yay, leptin! I think that's part of it, although I may not understand how it works._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Day 13--success_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Day 20-success
one more day! I can't see breaking the streak now, but I won't yeehaw until tomorrow night._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Day 21 complete! I get to graduate tomorrow to the you-know-what club..._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

I'm actually hoping for 7,342...after messing up for 40 years, is twenty years on target asking too much? Okay; one step at a time. 42 it is!_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Day 22 success_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

S-day. auto success, but even more so, as I was able to respect the fact that I wasn't very hungry._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Success up through day 28. Funny stuff yesterday: buffet lunch at conference had small plates and our moderator said many more people had shown up than expected so could we make sure everyone got something before we saw if there could be "seconds." I took less than I would have, so I did go back when it was clear there was more food. I felt fine about my choices, but what was surprising is that I still didn't feel satisfied when done and I had an empty, though not specifically hungry, feeling all afternoon. I was ready to eat dinner at 3 p.m.! I made it to 5:30, and was back to feeling normal._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Friday 1/29 success dinner out w/friend. Way too much food on one plate. Ate half. I've done that before and then eaten more when I got home alone. Not this time.
1/30 S-day_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Tues. and Wed. [color=#444444][color=gr[/color]een]successes[/color]_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

thurs. 2/4 success
Fri. 2/5 success. funny stuff: I invited a friend over for dinner and didn't want to try to balance my bread and dessert banana on the lip of my shallow soup bowl, so I virtual plated it. I'm sure it was the same amount as I have had on other nights when I put a deep soup bowl and my other food on a plate.
Sat. S-day. Woo-hoo, as I have a potluck to go to. Dessert with no guilt. I feel so grown-up!_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

2/6 and 2/7 S days
Sunday had a quite a gap without eating. Almost skipped dinner, but had cooked some rye berries so I ate some with Parmesan. got my lunch packed for tomorrow._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

success
Wasn't even hungry for breakfast. I thought I might get hungry, so I brought a piece of bread and peanut butter. I just had coffee with milk all morning and I ended up eating half of "breakfast" with my lunch. Maybe that was funny stuff? I was actually wishing I'd brought something a little more substantial for my entree, so was glad to remember the bread. Regular dinner._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

success_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Wed. and Thurs. were successes._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Had a 4-day weekend for Presidents' Day. I used only SAt/Sun as S-days. I haven't felt the need to add any extra S days as allowed. I still feel Christmas!
Monday and Tuesday 2/15 and 2/16 success_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Since the 16th, all my weekdays have been green. Finished 56 days of success yesterday, counting S-days._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Monday, 3/1. Success
Tues. 3/2 Funny stuff. I had my teeth cleaned after work, but had to do back so I stopped at a Mexican food joint. I got a plate; it was so loaded with dense food! It was too much of what I didn't want and not enough of what I did. Luckily, back at work I had a serving of high fiber cereal and some cut up cantaloupe, so I ate some of the Mexican food and then came back to work, where I virtual plated cereal and fruit. Much better combination. Success.
Wed. 3/3 and 3/4 Success._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

3/11 success. Almost declared an S day yesterday. Was going to go to an early St. Pat's party after work, but had an appt. at 5:30 and I left work too late. Just as well._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Mon and Tues, 3/15 and 3/16, success.
Wed. and Thurs. 3/17 and 3/18 success
Friday declaared S day. Last day of school before spring break. I've been toying with the idea of making Fridays an S day and giving up Sunday. In any case, I decided I wanted to celebrate. This is the first non-weekend S day I have taken._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Hi Oolala (love the nick). I'm copying this from my thread in case you didn't see it:

I mentioned Mastering Leptin on 3/23, which is why you found it in a search. I actually haven't read the book yet, but I'd been researching leptin on the internet and of course found Byron Richards's web site. I was struck by the fact that the first three of his "five rules" fit right into No S. And as for other two rules, they seem pretty sensible as well. I want to read the book because, like you, I want to know the science behind the theories.

Even though I haven't read the book yet, I've started to incorporate the rules into my daily eating. For instance, I've given up drinking sweetened coffee between meals so as not to have any intake of calories at all during that stretch.

How about you? Are you incorporating the leptin diet with No S? I'd be interested to hear what you think.

4/1/10 Success. Not even April's fools. This marks 13 weeks on plan. Have taken only two S days.

Weight loss is about at a stand still. Not sure what to do about that, but I'm enjoying my meals immensely._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Took an S day. Had funny stuff during the day and decided I would have dessert with dinner. I really want to make Friday an S day. I can't figure out if it is just giving in to bad habits of wanting to splurge at the end of a work week, or a legitimate modification. But I am not going to call it a failure. However, this is pretty darn early in the month to have an S day. On the other hand, Easter is the last big reason to have sweets, at least on my calendar. No birthdays or such.

I don't really have a consistent social life, being single. Some might think it is convenient, but it can make it harder because there is so little to shape your choices. Also, being with others can sometimes be dessert for me! I think I could make a modification stick more if I knew I had a consistent social reason to hold out for dessert on Saturday night and splitting cheesecake at Sunday brunch or the like._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Woo, today was a little tough. I had a stressful situation at work and was off-campus, relatively close to a Caesar's pizza shop. I so wanted to buy a pizza for lunch and stuff myself. Even thought about buying sweet junk after work and gobbling it. Haven't felt that way in awhile. Ran errands and now it's time for dinner anyway.
Fri, Sat. Sun, Apr. 2,3,4 S-days.
Monday success_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Have been struggling. Trying to think back now. Can't remember Monday, but I think it was a failure.

Tues. 4/13 failure
Wed. 4/14 failure
Thurs. 4/15 success

I've gone back to eating between lunch and dinner, darn it. That is my danger time. I'm committed today to making it. It got so bad, I was even eating at other times. Yesterday morning I actually stopped at a market and bought an angel food cake. I ate all of it in the course of the day. This was after finding a piece of leftover chocoloate bunny from Easter and having that at breakfast. I'm a little scared. I didn't do this for 13 weeks straight and now I'm back at it. I'm back up 5 lbs. I keep telling myself I'm not in a hurry, but I'm discouraged. I also can't seem to get myself into exercising, not even 14 mintues a day of resistance exercise, not to mention walking. Yet I sit and watch TV. I start when I have dinner. I just hate eating in silence while I eat alone. I'm thinking now I'll start doing resistance exercise for 14 minutes just before I eat dinner at night while I watch TV. Then I'll eat and use my stair stepper for awhile afterwards still while watching._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

Last edited by oolala53 on Thu Apr 22, 2010 3:21 am; edited 1 time in total

I've had a good week. Successes every day since last Thurs._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

I've been enjoying your posts. Don't give up. I think your doing really great. You don't live too far from me. I'm from San Diego County. Live in Temecula right now, but my parents live in Santee. I go down there often. Take care. Denise_________________Denise
restart No S on 4/1 at 132#
goal is 120-123# doing vanilla NoS with Eat Stop Eat on Monday.

I'm not sure we can ever know exactly why we eat when we shouldn't. Even if we did, I don't think we can always fix the problem we are trying to eat away. We do know that the urge and thoughts that drive it come from a chemical stimulus, though that's not Reinhard's focus. For the most part, the only solution is to not give in, no matter what our mind says. Sounds absurd: just say no, but not reinforcing the urge is the quickest way to extinguish it.

I found that in the past, I was successful only during magical times when the urges seemed to almost disappear. When they came back, I was a pushover. I realized this time that I had to learn to thwart them. It's working really well on N days again. Now I have to use these tactics more on S days.

Legend has it that St. Augustine, before his conversion, used to pray for God to take away his desire for wine, women, and song-but not yet. That's kind of where I am on S days. But the day is coming._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

4/22 Funny stuff. I was invited to an open house. When I reviewed the invitation and saw that it was a wine and cheese affair, I ate a very light dinner including some vegetables, thinking I'd have some cheese and crackers, too, as the place was very close by. Turned out there were only a couple of slices of fresh mozzarella left, but a lot of raw veggies, fruit, dip, crackers, bread, muffins, pound cake and pastries. I partook of some bites of it all except the sweets. The food had more volume than I expected, but I virtual plated it. I'm calling it a success._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Well done! I think, for me at least, success comes when I think and plan ahead. I tend to have the most difficulty when I am confronted with an unexpected opportunity to snack (free food at work, samples at the grocery store, etc.). Good on you for being prepared and for virtual plating!

Hey, maggie, I wrote back to you on my thread. My computer has been running super slow, so it's been hard to keep up with this. I think your group idea sounds really great. It would probably be too far for me to drive everytime, but maybe once in a while? Have a great S weekend._________________Denise
restart No S on 4/1 at 132#
goal is 120-123# doing vanilla NoS with Eat Stop Eat on Monday.

made it through Friday, 4/23. It was a bit worriesome because I'd been toying with the idea of making Friday and Sat. S days. I might in the future if I ever have someone consistently to socialize with on Fridays. I knew it would turn into me permasnacking on the couch. The tug of desire was there, but less than on other Fridays.

Sat. was a full on eating, but Sunday, I had awhile during which I could so easily have eaten but found myself waiting because I wanted to get back to that hungry feeling for a meal. When I finally did eat, I had more sweets than I intended, but I still considered it a victory. This is what I'm hoping will happen, that I will just not want to eat in a way that keeps me from getting hungry for meals. I do it during the week and enjoy it, but truth be told it is still a lot because it is a rule, rather than the preferred way. I 'm not sure I can get across the distinction. I want S days to get to the point that I just don't want to eat because I can, and that if I don't eat, it isn't because I shouldn't or I will feel better if I don't, etc. but because it barely occurs to me. Yeah, I guess I'm looking to forget about food as an option. I'm looking to become a person who doesn't fill her time to keep her from eating but just lives her life, thinks aobut food when it's appropriate and eats when it's appropriate. My dream, I realize, is that it ceases to be an issue. Could this ever really happen? After 40 years of failure and attention given to this issue, could it really become a non-issue? The irony is this may not be possible if I spend so much time on boards devoted to focusing on eating, but I think it's the way it needs to be for now.

Finished the day: success_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

I thought I had made it, but actually even when I ate dinner, it didn't seem like enough. I think I'm getting too caught up in eating small portions of dense foods. About an hour and a half after dinner, I felt emtpy. Not sure why I ddin't try milk first, but I didn't I had a small bowl of cereal and a slice of whole wheat bread. I feel ambivalent; I've had many meals that I felt just fine after and didn't eat a thing, so I like to think I can exert some judgement. I also realize I can't fool myself and do this often. I'm not sure what I needed to do differently in regard to my dinner. I'd rather be able to eat the amount I need without eating or drinking to tide me over at night._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Meant to add that I've been noticing how much my ability to go the distance between meals depends on having the right things to eat, or so it seems. I've seen this week that if I forget my piece of fruit or the fat at lunch, I get so hungry that I end up eating an hour earlier for dinner. I've sometimes started to feel hungry before I go to bed, but if I can get asleep, I'm okay. Just trying to make sure I have what I need every day. I hate to depend on the school cafeteria mostly because I have so little time for lunch, it takes too long to get over there.

Ate eggs for breakfast today and brought everything I need for lunch. Just got to get in the rhythm today and tomorrow. I hope it will carry over on the weekend. I am going to make more definitive plans for my time, too, so that food won't be the only entertainment._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Went to a catered lunch. They ran out of salad; not a lot of time to eat (teacher) so I tucked into my food before waiting to see if they would bring more. Nowhere near filling my plate so I made a decision to have more chicken. I'm calling it a success because I had consciously left room for more of something. The only other foods were either desserts or foods I just don't like that much.

Just finished a nice dinner.

I brought a dessert home from the luncheon, but I'm leaving it out in the car for safety! Just because I had been having some wavering feelings on Fridays. I'm confident it will get easier again after a few more weeks.

Success._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

Last edited by oolala53 on Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:20 am; edited 1 time in total

Saturday was a wild S day. Sunday I actually ate 3 meals, although the first one was a waffle with syrup and cookie dough, and the third one had cookies in it. So, a lot of sugar, but I did eat meals with no snacking. Big improvement. Realized that my S days are not supporting my goal of recovering from bingeing. Experimenting with meals on at least one day.

It's not No S philosophy, but I'm entering a contest on the T-Tapp site. Anyone ever heard of it? It's a 60-day contest and the winners are never the super skinny types. I also wanted to up the ante a bit because 1) I have been pretty much gorging on S days, which is against my spiritual aspirations, and 2) I want to wear a certain dress to the graduation of my 93 seniors this year._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Congrats on the three meals on Sunday! I'm starting to think that is key for me too. Too often snacking for me becomes permasnacking. I like the discipline of three meals a day, and it seems crazy to throw that over two days a week just because I can.

Monday and Tuesday, May 3 and 4, wereSUCCESSES. I ate out Monday and feel I chose the right amount to eat, not getting too full, though there was food left. I used that as part of my lunch yesterday.

I had a friend take pics of me for the contest on Monday night. It's a good thing I am older and wiser and could find my white, bumpy body laughable rather than mortifying. That is one wide beam at the back! It's funny because I actually feel pretty good in my clothes a lot of the time.

Though weight is not the biggest issue, after a 4 lb. gain over the weekend, I am back where I was. I know it was mostly water from salty, sweet foods. But my pants today feel better, too.

I do still have occasional "whiffs" of wanting to gorge after work, mostly. Once in a while, it comes in the morning on the way to work. I guess I'll just feel overwhelmed and want to stop to stuff, which I occasionally did before work, almost every day after it. I don't know what it going to happen when we go on summer break and i don't have work to fill the days._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Huh. Two failure days in a row, both of them after dinner. First one, i know I felt I didn't have enough starch on my plate at dinner, but I felt full after eating. However, the urge to snack was very strong later and I ended up giving in. Also I bought a type of no-sugar crunchy cereal that I've decided I can't keep in the house until I am back on track again. Between Wed. and last night, I ate almost all of both bags, though they are only 6 oz. bags becasue the cereal is puffed. It was more that I just kept eating that was the issue. All the things I tell other people to do went out the window.

Last night it was total emotional eating. I lost my car keys at work and even broke down and called a friend who was in her own tizzy so much that she said she would rather go to church to calm herself than to let me take her out to dinner and give her 30 bucks to come pick me up, 13 miles away. And she lives in my 'hood! I know you can't obligate people to want to do you favors but it was hard to face that she is just about the only person I can ask for help like that and she still wouldn't do it. I have got to work on my social network!

I was tempted even this morning to go off the plan. Thankfully, I got on this board and was re-inspired. Only 90 minutes to lunch._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

I'm sorry your friend was such a flake on you. Some people really have a hard time when they are so caught up in there own drama, to think of others.
I hope you have a really great weekend._________________Denise
restart No S on 4/1 at 132#
goal is 120-123# doing vanilla NoS with Eat Stop Eat on Monday.

Friday, 5/7 Failure, but I felt like it was a success. I did eat a few sweets in the afternoon. I was thinking that I would just go have a blow out binge. I'm susceptible to that on Fridays anyway. I went to my regular discount market, bought cookies and chocolate and was even unwrapping it in the parking lot when I heard on the radio that it was 5:20 p.m. I realized I could just go home and have a regular dinner. I put the sweets away and did that. I even made it through the rest of the evening.

Today, Saturday is an S day._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

Last edited by oolala53 on Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:23 am; edited 1 time in total

((((Hugs)))) Sorry you had such a bad day on Thursday. The emotional eating thing is totally understandable. I hope your weekend was restful and restorative.

oolala53 wrote:

What is it like for you doing a 24-hour fast? I find that I'm often not very hungry in the early morning and think I can do it. Then I start getting very hungry, maybe about 11, and think why should I not eat when I'm hungry? Do you find you can divert yourself when you're hungry? I somehow can do that sometimes between lunch and dinner, but it's hard earlier in the day, especially if I can't have some coffee with milk, which is how I usually tide myself over.

I've been doing ESE for a while, but I remember it was hard in the beginning. It's still hard sometimes, but not nearly as much. If I feel hungry, I just ignore it or drink more water or unsweetened tea and try to keep myself busy until it passes. Altogether, ESE days are a lot easier when I'm at work, especially on a busy day. It's actually a benefit not to have to think about what to pack for lunch, kind of a gift of time.

The coffee thing is a big issue for me as well. I need to have whole milk or half & half with a little sugar (less than a teaspoon) in my coffee, which means I can't drink coffee on an ESE fast. Fortunately, I like unsweetened tea, both white and herbal, which helps. The white gives me a bit of caffeine so I don't get a headache, and I've been trying out different herbal flavors for variety. I almost never schedule my ESE days for Wednesdays and Fridays because I usually work at home those days, and it would be too tempting to break down and make a cup of my French press coffee. Fortunately, the coffee at work is not nearly as good, which makes it easier to pass up!

My advice would be to plan ahead for an ESE day. I find I do better when I wake up in the morning and know ahead of time that I will be fasting until dinner, rather than deciding on the fly. Actually I start thinking about it the night before, keeping track of when I finish dinner so that I can make it a full 24 hours. One of the benefits of fasting is an increased alertness and concentration, which I also appreciate on my busy days. Irritability is something that many people experience when fasting and something that used to bother me; however, I no longer feel irritable. If anything, I get a mildly euphoric kind of feeling at about hour 20, similar to the mild buzz I used to get from my post-surgical pain pills. Maybe that's just me and my weird body chemistry.

Another idea might be to try a different starting/ending time. Perhaps eat a hearty lunch one day and then begin your fast at that point, skipping dinner. By the time you wake up in the morning you are already three quarters of the way through your fast and then just have to hold out until lunch time. Don't know if that would work for you but I thought I'd throw it out there.

I had a pretty wild day on Sat. the cookies and chocolate i didn't eat on Friday evening were gone by 10 a.m. Sat. morning. I did a fair amount of permasnacking, too. This is partly because I am not very good at managing my time. I should be working correcting essays but i hate it so I'm reacting by procrastineating. I also am not seeing many friends. They are not willing to hang out with me until I get work done so that we can go play. Therefore, i don't get to play much. I can't remember if I ate a real dinner SAt. night or not. I was thinking to fast on Sunday, but I got hungry enough that I decided not to. Had a lunch around 12:30 p.m. and dinner around 8. Wasn't esp. hungry for dinner but didn't want to go to bed hungry either.

It's about 2:50 p.m. I feel very full from lunch, though I ate a normal amount. I think after I've binged I notice that I get fuller from my meals.

I'm also very tired. I'm going to go get my car worked on, but I wish I could go sleep. Still have tons of work to do._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

Last edited by oolala53 on Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:25 am; edited 1 time in total

Didn't get the car worked on. Fiddle faddled on the net and went home. Just had dinner.
Monday 5/10. Success_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

A day of success is a triumph considering what you've been dealing with. It's wonderful that you were able to keep your indulgences to the S days and get back to a normal N day on Monday. Good luck with the car!

Mon. and Tues. both success day 3 on the way to the 21-day club._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

Last edited by oolala53 on Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:26 am; edited 1 time in total

I don't know how much you have to lose (I have plenty) but I know for me, in the beginning, wild S days didn't trip me up much as far as initial loss and getting back on track come Monday *except* in the area of exercise. I have fibromyalgia and so I'm very sensitive to sugar. Come Monday I have terrible sugar hang over that lasts well into the week because it causes me to flair. My No S habitcal looks pretty good but my exercise one is patchy at best...

Fortunately my desire for sweets has been regulated through these no s habits so I barely even want any treats now. This last Friday evening my son bought out a cookbook and said, "It's going to be the the weekend, you can have anything you want. Pick a treat so we can make it." I browsed for over 30 minutes and eh,,,in the end I didn't want anything. I had a coke and an scoop of ice cream and called those my Ses. Kind of dissappointing in a way since I had been building myself up to cut loose come Saturday, yet satisfying.

Can't relate yet, but I want to be able to. I guess I thought after 19 weekends, it would be better but I haven't binged the last two Sundays. So when I think about it, 6 days a week of not bingeing is a lot better than none, which is how it used to be. And I am really starting to get the sense that I am the captain of my ship and I can make the choices. I used to feel like the food was making the choices. I also have to accept that it's likely that when I do choose to eat moderately, instead of it building up some desire like a volcano, it will make it likely I will be moderate more often. It's almost like a friend I'm not sure I want to say good-bye to._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

... And I am really starting to get the sense that I am the captain of my ship and I can make the choices. I used to feel like the food was making the choices. ....

I hear you there. I had a really hard time admitting that I allowed food to rule my life. Pre No S my days literally revolved around food and eating, namely obtaining junk food. From the second my eyes opened in the morning until I crashed come night sugar and food ruled my thoughts...I don't drink, don't smoke so food became my vice.

Then there's the other end of the food obsession spectrum...strict avoidance of certain foods, the villains. btdt, own a timeshare I just put back on the market...

I'm just really grateful for No S. Who wants to diet and never get to enjoy chocolate...not me!

last week was all successful green days and yellow S days.
today, May 17 green._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Was green all last week. Pig out Sat. Low profile Sunday. Weight up on Monday, 5/24. got discouraged by that, by school, by kids. Way failed._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

I had a successful week right through the weekend. I took Monday as an S day. Officiallly, I didn't fail, but I felt pretty crappy from eating too much. I felt so naseous that I could stomach only one meal on Tuesday and only 2 today, Wed.

I've decided in honor of the upcoming summer solstice, I need to whip my S days into shape. Not sure how yet._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

THURS JUNE 3 I don't know whether I should call this a failure or a sick day (yellow). I had been feeling nauseous for a few days. It went away and hunger came roaring back. Though I put what I thought was the right amount was on my plate for dinner, I was hungry for more later. I almost resent putting a failure because I felt so good after my extra food and did not want to keep eating because I had "blown it," as I often do.

In retrospect, though, I remember thinking that I could have had some hot milk with vanilla and stevia. I should have had that first. Then if I still felt I needed something to eat, it would have been my choice.

SAT. JUNE 5: NOON This is my first S day with mods. I'm committed to two more meals and no snacks today. I had some sweets with breakfast. Ha! I may have dessert with dinner or not. That I will play by ear. I have a piece of cake (well, half now) from a work event (frozen, then thawed) that I could have today or tomorrow, or I could choose another sweet. But no more than that. And no seconds. I'm trying to find the right balance between the permasnacking/gorging I've been doing on weekends and its being just another N day._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

Last edited by oolala53 on Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:38 am; edited 1 time in total

Am feeling so rotten from my overeating weekend. Why can't I remember this when I'm eating so much? I was astounded the first time I got really drunk (at age 24) and had a terrible hangover to think that boys I knew in high school did it every week! yet I've done this to myself week after week on No S. The amazing thing is my overeating hangovers are way worse than they were before No S, but they haven't stopped me. Maybe this time? I also need to get more structured on my weekends. I know if I were spending time with friends, I wouldn't be eating so much._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Hi oolala,
I just wanted to say I totally sympathize with you. I just wrote a post on my thread about feeling bad about not listening to my body's signals of fullness. Then I read your thread and I realized I'm not the only one with that problem even after months of No S! I know that doesn't help you, but it made me feel like I'm not slow or stupid for not figuring it out faster!

I hope you feel better. Maybe if one of us figures out how to keep from eating things that we don't want to eat on S days we can help the one another!

Shannah_________________This version of myself is not permanent, tomorrow I will be different. --BEP

I really don't want to tell you how long it took me to get a clue - and I sometimes still need reminding that "satisfied" and "stuffed to illness" are not synonyms! But please take it as encouragement that your body is tellling you it does not like being stuffed. That's genuine progress - your body has a new definition of "normal" and "feeling good."

If you are doing pretty well on N-days and want to address the S's, the "S days gone wild" podcast and sticky list are a great place to start. I found what helped me the most was staying on the same meal-structure on weekends. I could add in S's, but if I still had meals, they gave me a "backbone" that made a real difference. I'd find myself thinking "it's too close to dinner to snack - I won't enjoy my meal." And since I DO try to plan meals I like, that thought would help me self-correct without stress.

Noticed on an earlier post that you were procrastinating (at one point) on correcting essays. That resonated, because I hate grading too. I used to have "grading parties" with another friend who was teaching - we'd meet at a coffeeshop and have an indulgent drink, and report our progress at intervals... after 2 solid hours, we'd plan a break/reward. Got a lot done that way - somehow, I was reluctant to slack off with someone working across the table!

WARNING! This gets very psychological and may be perceived by others as feeling sorry for myself and unnecessarily introspective! I know I've thoguht that myself about myself and others. But it's a way to while away the time.

Thank you so much, Shannah and KCCC. I have listened to the S days gone wild podcast. The problem is I so far can't stand the thought of deciding beforehand to limit those days. I'm very attached right now to not failing, meaning it's impossible fail on S days--as long as I have no mods. I can almost feel the rebellion rising inside me when I imagine making myself stick to three meals plus a dessert or any other variation of "eat what you want when you want." It's ironic because I like my N days so much. Yet I feel so relieved on Saturday to be able to try a food sample at Costco, or just pop a few goldfish crackers in my mouth between meals. If it stopped there, I'd be okay, but I also don't want to give up being able to eat a bag of Dove candies. I know it sounds insane.

I know this is not what Reinhard meant about free eating. I know this is what he would call being an idiot. I think it is, too, but it doesn't stop me. I wonder if he can even relate to these desires. I cannot imagine being a person who was moderately heavy for quite awhile, never tried any diets, thought the matter over carefully, and then got over overeating in a few weekends. I wonder if he would have kept going if he hadn't had such quick success. Then again, I see from his daily check in that he keeps slugging away on the other habits he works-and fails- on. In my mind, those seem like child's play in comparison with overeating. Okay, maybe glass ceiling isn't, but I don't get that he has an actual problem with alcohol. Anyway, I digress. It's me who has the issue with food.

However, the aftermath of these binges is becoming so terrible that it may be what turns things around. I've felt so lousy that I have accomplished practically nothing of worth since going to bed on Friday. Miraculously, I did fit in a fitness tape, a dance class, a walk and a few cardio-intense bursts. But in between I pretty much sat on the couch watching TV (fitness infomercials, no less), surfing the net on ways to reduce my thigh size, and whatever else came to mind to keep me from being aware of nausea and all the stuff I need to do. It took me until this morning (Tues.) to wash two sinks' of dishes (I don't own a dishwasher) and the sinks are now full again from all the dishes that were on the counters and stove.(Believe me, I'm ashamed to admit this, being a grown woman, but it's all part of it.) I look out my front door and see little messes on the deck and I know there are more of them in the yard-thankfully, this is all behind a wooden fence. I don't like the idea of trying to do something about them when I feel normal, never mind when I feel sick. And I'm longing to feel good enough to have a meal. I felt that way last night around 6 pm. The only meal of the day. It tasted great, I felt great, and I woke up okay, until I moved. Nausea. It is 10:16 a.m., and I am in no shape to eat. Sometimes, I'll get a glimmer of hunger-YES! Then it goes away. It makes me not want to leave the house. I want to be ready to pounce on food as soon as the right moment arrives. Maybe I should pack a lunch? I certainly do it when I have to be at work. Summer break, now. Why have to pack a lunch? But I also know it's hard to find what I really want to eat in the proportions I enjoy for the price I want to pay. And I'll be eating alone. Hey, I've done it more than the average bear, but I just don't want to sit in a restaurant AGAIN ordering all the dishes I would need to just to get a plate of what I want and reading a book or looking around the room because I'm there by myself.

So, I'm seeing that a lot of this is about avoiding things I have to do and, which I've been seeing but haven't written about much yet, it is also because I have decided that there is not enough pleasure in my life to make up for the unpleasantness of doing dreaded chores. The payoff of accomplishing them doesn't sound like enough, even though I also have a belief that not doing them is keeping me from making the friendship and love connections that would bring me the pleasure I want. I'm not sure how I got there from food but some part of me knows they are connected.

I'm sorry to hear that your having such a hard time. It sounds like you've been sick for awhile. Maybe that's part of this? I know the feeling that thing's are not getting done and not having the motivations to do it. For me I usually feel that way right before I start my period, but also when I am just too overwhelmed or have too much going on.
For me, sometimes, it helps to make a list of things I want to get done. I know this is simplistic, but crossing one thing off at a time really gives me motivation to continue.
I hope you feel better soon.
Denise_________________Denise
restart No S on 4/1 at 132#
goal is 120-123# doing vanilla NoS with Eat Stop Eat on Monday.

Oh dear..hold on...things will get better! somewhere on this site is a post about setting a timer to get work done. I use that and a list when things look glum. Set the timer for no more than 14 minutes..do a chore for only that long..move on to something else.give yourself scheduled breaks..I think you will be surprised at how much you will get done in a short amount of time. so, for instance "clean bathroom'..14 minutes / gather laundry..14 minutes / change sheets..14 minutes.../dust living room..14 minutes. In less than an hour, you'd have laundry gathered,a clean bathroom, and clean sheets..besides a dust free living room! Have a cup of tea..14 minutes and plan another hour! Don't forget to throw in "walk-14 minutes" and /or"dance around the room ..14 min." Those things are important too!
Food wise..be kind to yourself, please! Take baby steps when you are making changes.
Make a list of things you enjoy doing..things you never get around to doing and begin to give yourself the gift of doing them on a regular basis.
know that you have a great support system here!_________________"If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think another negative thought."
Peace Pilgrim

End of the day Tuesday. SUCCESS! I finally stopped feeling hungover and had my first meal of the day at 11:00 a.m. Normal N day meal. Went for an early dinner around 5 pm and could eat only a little over half of what was served. I feel good again. And I think I'll be smarter next weekend. I'm going to actively remind myself how terrible it felt._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

..good for you! just go back and read you "bummer' post each Friday and that should do the trick. I think I'll go to your "bummer' post each Friday to help me remember how food can rule my life!!_________________"If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think another negative thought."
Peace Pilgrim

Hi Oolala - I'm so pleased you're feeling better about things. I woke up thinking about you this morning and have only just found time to check your thread (mad day at work interfering with my no s catch up time!!).

Also - don't forget that the end of the school year can make you feel incredibly tired and jaded - it can take up to a week to catch up on your sleep and feel human again. We are not there yet in the UK, but I know when we do get there I won't feel like doing anything for a while!

Thanks for your comment on my check-in - the cheese and yogurt definitely made a difference today.

Wed. awoke again nauseous, but recovered and had a late lunch. Then a late dinner because of an evening event that did not include food.

Success!

Thurs. Awoke today for the first time not nauseous! Was afraid I would eat the house for breakfast and kept thinking of different things to put on my plate, but I limited it to oatmeal patty with chile verde sauce, two medium eggs, about an ounce of Brie and-- Can you believe celery sounded good? It was. I was full before I was done and didn't finish one egg yolk and half the cheese because they suddenly seemed like they would add too much "coating" to my stomach and didn't sound good anymore. It's 90 minutes later and I'm even happier I didn't finish it all.

My gosh, I feel so lucky to live in the land of riches and so glad I found No S to continue this journey with food._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

I wrote this for a specific person on her thread but realized it was too long, so I put it here. You can read it now or in my book, coming out in two years, though no publishers know about it and I haven't written it yet. Ha ha.

I am not known for my tact, though I don't set out to be mean, so I apologize in advance if I come off like a witch and you never want to look at a post by me again. But I am going to be bad cop here. If you think it's going to make you furious or despairing, go ahead and skip it and pat yourself on the back for knowing what you need and don't need right now. I'm also to some extent going to be repeating myself, but I don't know where I said it, so I can't direct you to it. I may have even said it to you! Either it was useless, or you need to hear it again. No shame in that! Most of life's lessons need to be repeated endlessly.

I think one of the biggest mistakes about the published info on No S is the idea that 21 days of compliance is going to make this easy. It's so unreasonable to expect that that will cover every kind of problem people have with eating that I'm a little surprised that the guru of logic, reason, and sanity--Reinhard--included it. I wonder how many people have given up never to return because it was not true for them. In fact, in looking at years of people's attempts at permanently changing their diets, one of the biggest problems was their thinking that they could figure out what to do in a few weeks, and then have it be easy from then on. Only a very delicate confluence of conditions makes something like that happen, and the confluence is often ignored in looking at the result. I'm convinced that most people would find success years earlier if they accepted that it was going to take several months or even a couple of years before the new life--and permanent weight loss is a new LIFE-- becomes second nature.
That's too long, I hear you wailing. Well, take it from the grandmas around here. It's a couple of years of patient whittling away or 20 or 30 years of attempt-failure-giving up, because you say you're trying, but you're not really trying- despondency, gearing up, attempting again, but throwing the whole thing out after a few weeks or months. And hating yourself. Then repeat again and again. You think you don't have the time to take as long as it's taking? You do have the time. You've got nothing but time, until you get this obsession conquered. What you don't have the time for is thinking it's way too hard and it should be easy.

Of course, I admit that maybe there is some technique or pill that WILL make this all fast and easy, but I don't know it and it may take just as long to find it as to power through this process right now.

I also only say this because reading your posts makes me think of exactly how I would have sounded 30 years ago if I had been trying this program then. Though it may be true that one can learn only from one's own mistakes, I hope I can help spare you some possible years --possible DECADES--of pain if you convince yourself that this is impossible, unbearable, and all the other adjectives you are using. They feel very real for you, I don't discount that, but it might be worth considering examining the truth of them--later on that.

While it is true that eating sugar and other "highly palatable" foods, as researchers call them, mimics addiction, I am going to encourage you to start thinking of it as a very strong habit. Don't get me wrong. Both addictions and habits have strong physical, mental and emotional elements, but the connotation of addiction adds an intense element to this and intensity is something that needs to be smoothed here. I say smoothed because we all have temperaments that can be softened but not destroyed, I believe. It would be as unlikely for Reinhard to turn into Chicken Little as it would be for me to be rather like him, saying Oh, the worst problems in eating are sugar, snacking, and seconds. Oh, is that all? Okay, I'll just change those, and bam, lose 20 lbs. in 2 months, and never have to try any other diet again. Obviously, that is NOT YOU. And it AIN'T me, either, which is why I deign to speak to it. So, does this mean this is wrong for us? NO! I'm telling you, this is one of the sanest and SHORTEST, believe it or not, routes to breaking your sugar habit that you are going to find. You may want this to be over NOW, but it's unlikely to happen like that. This IS the easy way out, however. Unless you have a direct line to S. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, strap on your helmet and your seat belt.

To counteract an addiction, the fastest thing is to abstain from the substance 100% Not easy. Not happy, but fastest. In the case of alcoholics and drug addicts, best because the substance is not necessary to life and is potentially deadly in a relatively short time. However, many do die from it and many who give it up relapse several times before becoming abstinent.

Sugar, however, will most likely take decades to kill you, so the necessity of cutting it out forever is likely unnecessarily difficult. So it is better to think of it as a habit which must be contained. Even the science shows that a sugar habit can be overcome by forcing oneself to periodically limit oneself to a small portion. The biggest issue is what is periodically and what is a small portion. This will not be the same for everyone, nor will it end up the same as when the first attempts are made, though when the habit is under control, the results will be similar for many of the successful people. Getting there can take many different forms.

Having a powerful sugar habit is a lot like having obsessive compulsive disorder. There is a habit that feels absolutely necessary to partake in. The urge is intensified by thoughts that something terrible is going to happen if the person doesn't perform that activity. It feels very close to pain, though if examined, is definitely not as bad as real pain, like being stabbed or beaten. But it can seem that it is very important to avoid that feeling. The person rarely just suddenly goes and washes her hands, though. She has intense thoughts that tell her she has to wash her hands and that she will die, or will feel impossibly horrible, if she doesn't. And indeed, if she doesn't wash her hands, she does feel horrible, and is convinced that the thoughts are correct. So, to avoid the horrible feeling, she washes her hands. The thoughts and feelings subside for awhile, BUT THE CYCLE HAS BEEN REINFORCED.

The 1st problem is that the result of not washing her hands is not actually going to be death, nor is it as bad as the person thinks it will be if allowed to reach its greatest intensity. At some point, that feeling is going to reach its peak and then GO AWAY. And it is only an illusion. It is not a signal of death, injury, or true danger.

The 2nd problem, if it is not clear from above, is that the person does not wait long enough in counteracting the urges. She gives in as the urges are mounting in intensity, thinking they will just continue to escalate until she explodes and the pieces shoot off to Mars or Venus or wherever. This is the miraculous manifestation of what those New Age people call the mind-body connection. Some trigger-and there can be SO many- sets off that brain thang that then registers as a discomfort in the body and thoughts of what will relieve that discomfort--EAT. Thoughts will usually serve the need of the moment. Thus, after the binge, eating looks like having been such a stupid idea, but before the binge, seems like the only logical way to spend one's time so as to avoid death. She must wait until those urges reach their peak and fizzle out or slowly ebb--and they will. She must not believe her thoughts, even though they are often correct, such as when they say, Brush your teeth, or Baywatch was a stupid TV show. But, Eat that gallon of ice cream should not be believed anymore than The bogeyman IS under my bed should be.

All of these difficulties show up miraculously on brain scans. Ain't that something? It's all just a bunch of brain stimulation. But it is affected by a person's behavior, which includes thoughts, like I was alone last night, I am alone tonight, therefore I will be alone forever, as well as walking past the cinnamon rolls in the coffee room at work, or calling your boyfriend to invite him over for some late-night snuggling only to have him say he needs to get up early. The cycle is triggered and can start out as almost unconscious, but can be brought under conscious control.

To combat this, in one program, OC-ers are taught to recognize that their thoughts about the need to perform the behavior are just coming from a brain problem and that nothing really bad is going to happen. They are supervised for a period of time to help them through the terrible urges and shown that they don't die, pass out, or anything else. They learn to stop waiting for something terrible to happen and to do something else with their time, something really compelling at first. (Not another compulsion, though!) It might have to be something fun and pleasant, like going to a movie. Eventually, it is better if it is a task that is productive, meeting some purpose for the individual. In the beginning, it could be straightening out a drawer, but as time goes on, it may be spending an hour writing the great American novel or getting ready for her audition for the New York City Ballet.

So the protocol then is for the OC-ers to actively confront the thoughts, saying purposely to themselves that the thoughts are just coming from their brain problem, they don't represent anything real or true, and the subjects need to divert themselves from the thoughts by doing something else. Then they go do something else and keep actively resisting the thought, if it keeps coming up. Divert, divert, divert.

The brain patterns of subjects who consistently practiced the strategies showed great progress in moving toward normal brain patterns. This is terrific news for sugar freaks.

So those of us who are having more protracted problems with implementing the No S rules can learn from this. Our need to eat is almost always an illusion. Our need to eat certain things or huge amounts IS an illusion. We are not in the movie SIGNS in which our thoughts are like they dying wife's and all the half full water glasses make sense at the end. We may have many thoughts to reinforce these feelings of desire for sugary foods. The thoughts that we are going to die or something terrible will happen if we don't partake or that it is okay just this time or I'm fat and iI always will be so why can't I at least enjoy scarfing this package of Dove bars are just blatant lies to ourselves, but they are driven by the most basic of brain processes. The good news is we can control them with much more effectiveness than an OC-ers can in the long run. We really can become basically free of the compulsion, or in such a reduced state that we feel pretty much free. OC-ers will most likely have to be very active in counteracting their brains forever. And it's possible some sugar freaks will have to be relatively vigilant forever. But we can all live happier lives!

I think this plan of eating a portion of sweets once a day might work for you, leafy-green, but it may have to replace gorging on sweets on S days. I don't think you can do both. The brain stimulation will be too great and the stimulus-response is going to be reinforced instead of reduced. That will be a very difficult battle to win. For myself, I love my N days without sugar and can't see going back right now. Maybe if I lived in France and we all sat around after lunch having black cofffee-non, non, ma cherie, never cafe au lait after 10 a.m.-- and a 1/4 square inch of dark chocolate. ( I think the sugar consumption of the French is about 10% of the per capita consumption in the US. So much for all those French pastries. Not as sweet or as frequent as thought.)

You also have to recognize that you will have a very strong compulsion to eat a large amount of sweets once you start. ILLUSION!!! It's just the stimulus-response talking. If you don't give in, you will eventually reduce it to manageable levels. But in the beginning, and possibly periodically, it is going to be like being on a rocket. Hang on! Savor your portion of sweet and then man up! Reject the thought that you MUST have more. You don't need to! Finish, clean the plate and then FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FOOD! If it's after dinner and you feel sleepy, get ready as if you were going out, go walk around the car 3 times, and if you don't feel then that you could still go out and about, then go back in and do something else or go to bed. You are free and 21 and you can do this.

I think you have to also give up the idea that this is taking an impossibly long time. If you have actually been able to stick to several weeks of N days, with only a recent red day, you are way closer than you think and way ahead of many others who think they are doing the right thing to combat the problems

But the other issue is the process you need to go through to not be tortured so much by your thoughts about kicking sugar and how horrible it all is, etc. It sounds like this often takes over whole chunks of your time, whole evenings, for example. When those thoughts and terrible feelings start whirling around, I encourage you to use the OCD protocol. It is what I used in my first weeks on N days and it was incredibly successful. I did not use it on S days for several reasons which sound really stupid now, but I will be using it this weekend and for many to come. Plus, as you may have read, I had such a terrible S weekend last weekend that I think it will be easier for me to be cautious in order to avoid the sugar hangover again. Plus plus, I have more time and energy after the end of the school year to actually particitpate in some compelling, not food-related activities.

The next compuslsion I need to deal with is being on the computer and writing too long of posts!

Okay, we can do this!_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

Last edited by oolala53 on Fri Jun 11, 2010 2:32 pm; edited 1 time in total

I don't think you were witchy at all - your post is very clear, straight talking and incredibly motivating. I think you have hit the nail on the head with a couple of things

21 days - This is a technique I often use with people I work with, but it is meant to be a trial. Don't give up on a new routine until you have done it at least 21 times - then reflect, analyse, what do you need to change in order to get the results you want? It may be more of the same, there may be changes needed. Some people try things a couple of times and then give up - 21 days/times means you have to put effort in. It isn't a magic number for achieving your goal.

The comparisons with OCD are very valuable and true - no more to add to that!

idon'tknow, you are too kind. Thank you._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

actually, oohlala, this is a very reasonable post. I don't think it's ever reasonable to think that 21 days pass and suddenly a miracle happens and you never crave sugar or sweets again. I think the 21 days is symbolic in some ways. It's a good amount of time to have created new habits.

I have noticed for myself that even after 5 days, it's no longer anxiety-making for me ("Will I make it? How will I go five or six hours without one bit of a snack? Will I feel deprived? Will I forget and eat a sweet?"). Because now I have made it through several days and it's way easier for me than it was at hte beginning of the week and now I know I can do it. I'm hoping that at that magic 21 days, that it will be even easier. But I do not have food addiction issues so I don't know what it's like to suffer like that.

I was surprised when I first came here and saw that people were writing down what they ate for their meals since Reinhard didn't and since the plan is supposed to make that kind of record keeping unnecessary. But, some people have said that reading other's meals gives them ideas. Thus I'll do it, though I don't know how often or for how long. Mazel tov!

I've been off work and coincidentally have been waking up most days a little nauseous, so I haven't been hungry for breakfast. I'm sitting down to eat brunch now, and it is a true hodge podge.

brunch: cauliflower/broccoli mix with my version of an Indian eggplant dish called bhurtha as a sauce over them, a fist-size volume of green grapes, 2 apricots, a dessert sized bowl of Fiber One cereal with milk, a scoop of protein powder (easy) and about two thumbs' volume of walnuts.

Friday, June 11 Success_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

good post with many strong points! I always enjoy going back to the beginning of my posts..as well as those of folk who I think "get it' and just see how the journey is progressing. I am one of those who reads what other folks are eating but don't post my menus..I tried to do that and it just didn't work for me. I AM glad there are those who do it, though!! Anyone who thinks 21 days is going to be a magic turning point is still looking for the miracle magazine ads for diets offer..ain't gonna happen! I DO like the 21 day cycle though. I mark my little tracker for 21 day intervals, for some reason this is better for me than doing a monthly chart. Three weeks is a good time to look back, revise, and reflect on what happened. Then, mark it and move on!
You are approaching this plan in a very thoughtful way. I wish you a peaceful journey._________________"If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think another negative thought."
Peace Pilgrim

I was scared for a bit in the morning because after such a terrible reaction to overeating last weekend, I thought I would start the day off very conservatively. Compared to last week, I did, but having some chocolate chips right after breakfast made me wonder. However, as the day went on, I didn't permasnack on chocolate. I didn't eat enough to get really full and was even able to leave a respectable gap without eating before dinner.
I'm done for the day._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

I hate that gross feeling after overeating! That's one reason why for myself, I know I want to eventually moderate my S days a bit more...even today I feel rather "eh" about any sort of sweet food! But I'm sure I'll still have some later today, lol, especially since I'm going to my parents' house later today...

how far you've come! Next time you have a negative thought about something you've eaten, done, or not done...come up with two positive thoughts to give it less power. someone else said they wouldn't treat their worst enemy they way she treated herself and I think most of us do that. Be kind and gentle with yourself!.....and best of luck this week!!_________________"If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think another negative thought."
Peace Pilgrim

Sunday- continued to pick at food, but didn't over do it. A big improvement over last week. I hope I've turned a corner on S days._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Success_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

oolalal53:
I'm fascinated with your common sense and love your positive outlook.
I'm new (er) to No S and I'm loving it. My S days are still quite out of control, but I love what you wrote:
"Hang on! Savor your portion of sweet and then man up! Reject the thought that you MUST have more. You don't need to! Finish, clean the plate and then FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FOOD! If it's after dinner and you feel sleepy, get ready as if you were going out, go walk around the car 3 times, and if you don't feel then that you could still go out and about, then go back in and do something else or go to bed. You are free and 21 and you can do this. "

It strikes me that no, I do NOT have a sugar addiction, but it's more HABIT. I CHOOSE to eat the entire chocolate bar. It's not forcing me to. Sometimes I worry (since I'm someone who enjoys routine) that if I went over-board on one S day, that the next one I do the same/similar thing. It's almost like I have to make myself a little sick in order to really feel like I had my S day. Can we say self-torture? It's like I need to appreciate my sugar-less N days by going crazy on S days.
I'm learning slowly.
But, thanks for the advice of getting out of the situation and doing something else.
Good luck and you're an example!
Liz_________________Liz

Tx for the credit, but when I was writing that, I was thinking how I had not been applying it to my S days I had to get to the point where S days caused full-on nausea before I felt enough incentive to lighten up. The fear of overdoing it and feeling that way again helped stopped me as well as the realization that I COULD stop it. But I still worry for myself because it's so easy to forget the crappy feelings._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Thurs. 6/17 Success. Ate lunch out and brought home a lot of leftovers. Had a lecture to go to and wasn't hungry for dinner before, so I pulled out leftovers AFTER I got home. I still didn't finish all that was left. Not full at all, which is nice for going to bed_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. Lunch not quite satisfying because it was too expensive to get even just a bit of everything I wanted. Had dinner out and virtual plated so that I could have a dessert of fresh cherries.
Friday, June 18 Success_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

oolala, how far you've come!!
Monterey Bay and fresh cherries!! I am envious!! By the time I get to CA in July, the season will probably be over..or will Raniers be in?? (my favorites) What great choices you are making!! I love reading everyone's posts because it really helps me to see that others are facing the same difficulties as me and we are all helping each other through the rough spots. I appreciate you taking the time to give me the encouragement I need and to post your problems and how you are handling them. We are all in this together!_________________"If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think another negative thought."
Peace Pilgrim

Sunday S-day more sweets than I intended, but not terrible, either. However, the salt and sugar took their toll as my weight went up 3.5 lbs. overnight! I was disappointed as I keep fluctuating around the same weight and have not been down to where I was a couple of months ago. It's not saying much for the diet that I'm not getting off this plateau. Then again, we'll see where I am by Friday.

Monday, June 21 Success_________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Wasn't hungry for breakfast again. Was very tempted to eat seconds for dinner just to feel very full. However, I got past it and am glad I did. I showed myself one more time that most desire is in the imagination.

I'm really impressed with your meals. Really loading up on the vegies. I think your really doing great. Good job for not giving in to the temptation of having 2nds. You don't even want to start down that road._________________Denise
restart No S on 4/1 at 132#
goal is 120-123# doing vanilla NoS with Eat Stop Eat on Monday.

Hope I make it through tomorrow. My workshop gets out at 11:30 a.m. and I know I'm gonna have that "let's celebrate" feeling! Once again faced with a weekend alone. AArgh. However, having made it through a 21-day stint might help me stay on track. Plus, I have not lost anything in my waist and I am 3 weeks into my bet with my friend Richard. We haven't been in touch, his choice. I gave him some flack for saying he was going to eat just 2 cups of beans and rice a day. I sent him a copy of No S and wrote a couple of emails about it, but also said I'd be supportive of whatever choice he made. I don't know if he didn't appreciate my input or what, but I haven't heard from him and I'm not going to make the next move. I'm willing to drop the bet, anyway, though I for sure would like to be down one dress size by the time I go back to work on July 19. I liked the incentive a bit, but I need to be getting ready for dance camp, so I need to work out. I did my first day of aT-Tapp bootcamp today. Sure hope it works to help me reduce and get stronger for camp. That will take me up to the return to work. I'm hoping I'll be on such a roll that I'll just keep going for those next 6 weeks for sure._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2

Well sounds like a good week. I bet you can celebrate today with a nice lunch out.
I hope you have a great weekend. If you want, my family and I are meeting my church at the beach on Sat. for a day of BBq'ing and fun. You welcome to come. It's not a church event just a day of hanging out. I know that might seems weird since we don't really know each other, but i thought I'd put it out there since we don't live too far from each other. We'll be at oceanside harbor. PM me if your interested and I'll give you my cell #. If not, I totally understand. Just thought I'd put it out there. the more the merrier._________________Denise
restart No S on 4/1 at 132#
goal is 120-123# doing vanilla NoS with Eat Stop Eat on Monday.

Got through Friday. Can't even remember now if it was difficult. Success.

Trying hard not to feel bad about my S day yesterday. Theoretically, anything goes, but I'm not happy about it. Having the intention not to be an idiot doesn't seem to work, nor having a plan for something more reasonable. I started yesterday morning with little frosted cupcakes, though I didn't intend to. I really don't want to think I can't have desserts in the house. I've bought a Caesar! $5 pizza several times with no problem, but not yesterday. Ate pretty much all but two pieces over the course of the day. Finished a whole Toblerone bar and some chocolate chip cookies. 3/4 of a lemon bar. This all while not being hungry. Ah, me. Food, food, food. However, by S-day standards, a success._________________Count plates, not calories. Three a day. 8 years & counting
Age 64
SBMI Jan/10-30.8
Jan/12-26.8
Mar/13-24.9 Stayed at +/- 8-lb. for three years Sept/17 22.8 (but more fluctuation)
Mar/18 22.2